Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, Vol. 64, March 5, 1966

Thunder and lightning in the night. The first flash penetrated my closed eyelids as a startling red glow. The thunder very peculiar. More light or series of deep-throated explosions. The storm was south of here, and moved slowly to the east and northeast.
A wet, lowering day—sometimes rain, again snow—the latter fell in great soggy flakes almost vertically to the ground.
The income tax problem has been haunting me—it has to be done, no one can assemble the material for the C.P.A. I hated to be away from my March Wind picture, so took all the material, and put it on a table in from of the easel, where I could study the painting from time to time. It worked out well. I had the illusory feeling I was really working on the painting instead of the income tax, and in fact I did make some progress in my mind, in its problems.
David over to help Bertha—
The three of us to the Charter House where we had their Hans Christian Anderson sandwich special. The incongruity of the name did not bother us. David’s enthusiasm for the food very heartening.
Wherever he goes he practically enslaves people.
He never has to be told what to do. With all his lovable qualities, his charm, intelligence and wit, his comely manners, etc., he nevertheless has what the psychologists call a terrific “inferiority complex” —for example: “I don’t see how you folks can really love me,” “You really ought not take me to lunch,” “Can you remember how many times I have embarrassed you?”, “Really you ought not to pay me anything” and so on. He seems to need constant reassuring.
How we love him!
Mart over to have tea with us and brought along some water colors for us to help her in selecting (for a show in Cleveland in May) — How fresh and unsophisticated her approach to nature is, a delight in this age of “phony” art, which seems to have enslaved so many people “in power” in the world of art. They make me homesick for my early years.
End of the day music—Haydn’s “Symphonie Concertante,” what joyous music to prepare us for the night.
Charles E. Burchfield, March 5, 1966